Advocating for UX

Advocating for UX is something I myself am trying to learn how to do, and to continually improve upon; after all, user experience is in so many things. We use it in the realm of the Internet, of course, to talk about software, applications, games, and websites, but we see user experience in so much else.

The obvious examples might be things like Disney World, or if you visit an Apple Store (especially an Apple Store that is standalone, like in New York City, in which the existing architecture or surrounding environment is used to convey certain things). But other examples are things like the basic shape of a gaming controller – the rounded grips seen on the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis have morphed into the kind of controllers we see as standard across consoles today, because those controllers (as opposed to the more stick -or – bar like controller of the original Nintendo system) caused less hand and wrist strain over time, enabling players to play longer sessions at a time and to play even longer games. You can think of other product designs that are becoming prominent – the Chemex coffee maker is a good one to research too – partly for ease of use, effectiveness of product, and so on.

Now, of course user experience isn’t just product design. It’s not just behavioral psychology either. There’s a lot of disciplines user experiences intersect with, partly because of the nature of the fact that we’re human, and human experiences aren’t easily defined by one particular thing.

But why is it so difficult to make the case for UX to be included as a factor in developing applications and products? It’s not just for large multinational conglomerates – all it takes is a team to be on board with trying to make things easier on the user, on figuring out their needs, on what they actually do.

After all, isn’t it worth it to try and make an application people enjoy using, than an application people merely put up with?